With major implementation of the Affordable Care Act about a year away, local health officials are publicly unveiling a study aimed at analyzing the county's health care safety net, including its current capabilities and its capacity for expanding to meet the demands of national health care reform.

The study, dubbed the "Phase I Report: Preliminary Profile of Health Care Needs & Safety Net Providers that serve Residents of Monterey County," will be presented at five public meetings set for the next week and a half at various locations throughout the county. The meetings, which begin Monday with a two-hour session at 6 p.m. at the Castroville Library, will also offer attendees an opportunity to ask questions and offer comments.

Subsequent sessions will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Seaside's Oldemeyer Center on Tuesday, the county Health Department in Salinas on Wednesday, the Big Sur Grange Hall on Jan. 21, and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in King City on Jan. 24.

The first phase of the study, which was completed in June by Cal State University faculty researchers under contract with the county health department, is a collaboration between county health officials, the university's Institute for Community Collaborative Studies, and the county's safety net providers, including local hospitals, clinics, physicians and other health care organizations.

The health care safety net is described as organizations that offer care to uninsured, underinsured and

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear a report on how the county is planning to implement the Affordable Care Act by the beginning of next year.

The supervisors are also set to receive updates from county health officials on a pair of proposed health care programs Via Care and Access Point aimed at offering temporary health coverage or improved access to care for hundreds of poor and uninsured county residents as a precursor to national reform.

Last fall, county health officials backed off plans to implement the Via Care pilot program that would have provided temporary health coverage to up to 1,500 poor and uninsured residents.

The officials argued that putting the long-planned program into place even on a short-term basis would have endangered local health care funding from state and federal sources. Instead, they proposed expanded access to care without insurance under an alternative program they called Access Point.

According to an executive summary of the safety net analysis, the first phase of the study focused on providing an initial profile of the region's population, including demographics and socioeconomic variables, and current safety net providers, including location and available services.

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Study analyzes health care safety net in Monterey County